Miracle Last-Second Shot Lifts Westchester County Lacrosse Team To Undefeated Season

IRVINGTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- It's said "practice makes perfect," but sometimes useful skills can be learned after practice.

For one local lacrosse team, the season's defining moment arrived at the most implausible time, CBS2's Steve Overmyer reported Wednesday.

"At the end of every time you practice you see how far you can throw it at the goal. So I guess I never thought I'd have to use that. So I guess all that practicing paid off," Irvington Middle School's Justin Shapiro said.

The clock was running out on the season for Shapiro and his teammates. In the final game they had a 6-1 lead on Rye, but in the sport of lacrosse things change quickly.

"It happens in the game of lacrosse. The ball started rolling and it started rolling for them," Irvington coach Chris Suplina said.

Rye came back to tie the game. Overtime was just five seconds away. But then Justin got the ball around midfield.

"I shot it from this distance and it went in," Shapiro said.

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Most goals are shot and scored from within 10 yards, not from 50.

"It was pretty insane. My favorite part was that I could celebrate with my teammates," Shapiro said.

Shapiro's team had a reason to celebrate. Irvington Middle School's lacrosse team had just completed an undefeated season.

When asked if he knew it was going in when the ball left his stick, "I wish I could say yes, but no," Shapiro said with a laugh. "I guess I knew it went in when the first person like ran to me and picked me up."

It was quite a teachable moment for some young and impressionable minds. Coach Suplina and the players agreed, old adages like "play until the final whistle" and "leave it all out on the field," were certainly apropos on that day.

All thanks in part to an improbable goal in the final seconds.